Giving back to the IITs
There has been a recent flurry of financial support to IITs by alumni both in US and India.
This spontaneous activity started about five to six years ago as a trickle, gathered momentum
over the years to become fairly significant.
A casual visit to the IIT Bombay campus will show the impact it has had. The KReSIT building,
the Shailesh Mehta school of Management, two new high quality and much needed hostels, and a
student activity centre are very visible manifestations of this.
Similar projects are being funded at other IITs also. In January this year almost 2,500 IITians
gathered under the banner of PanIIT Alumni Organization in Silicon Valley to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the IIT system. There have been functions and associations organised all over
North America in support of IITs. What is behind this belated welling up of feelings of pride?
And why are IITians are beginning to open their wallets to support their alma mater
financially?
Answers are not hard to find. Supporting one’s alma mater both emotionally and financially is a
core American value. It is pursued life-long with passion and very often through generations.
There is an altruistic element to this tradition. There is also a strong self-serving motive
beyond gaining social stature.
As the universities gain reputation through pursuit of excellence made possible by the
generosity of the alumni, alumni stand to benefit as the value of their education goes up in
the market place. A Harvard or Stanford degree commands more in the marketplace by way of
salary. Having lived in America all their adult lives, IITians are doing what American alumni
are expected to do. Their initial munificence was focused on their American alma maters. It is
only lately that people have started to remember their Indian alma maters also.
IITians have achieved unimaginable success in US, both professionally and financially.
Initially, it was at universities and in technical professions, but lately it is in business
and also in non technical professions. This success has been really visible in Silicon Valley
during its heyday in the 1990s. The American business press, and lately the popular press also,
have noticed this in several high profile stories. This was epitomised by the feature on IITs
and IITians on the CBS TV magazine show 60 Minutes.
This self-awareness has galvanised a community that till recently was focused mostly on mundane
things like the need to assimilate, professional growth and worries about family and personal
issues. It is supporting IITs with gusto knowing fully well that as IITs gain reputation on the
world stage, IITians will do well. A classical win-win situation!
Surely such a burst of pride and accompanying philanthropic activity would be welcomed, one
would expect, by one and all. IITs were initially leery of this attention but soon learned to
like it. But it apparently did not sit well with the powers-that-be in Delhi. As early as
spring of 2000, there were mumblings about the need to control unbridled donations to IITs. I
sat through meetings with mandarins of the Human Resource Development ministry
where sinister
motives were imputed for the acts of charity. I was alarmed enough to bring this to the
attention of the Prime Minister at Blair House during his visit to US during the summer of that
year. He assured us all in an open meeting that his government was in favor of this charitable
activity and we should have no fear of any interference from government.
Incidentally, I would like to narrate my personal experience. I returned to IIT Bombay in 1994
for the first time after 27 years, having graduated in 1967. Though much had changed about the
campus, and mostly for the worse, I could not help but be overcome by memories and emotions. I
remember my IIT days as one of the best parts of my life! On my return to USA, I felt IIT
alumni should be paying back to IITs just like they pay back to their schools in US. I made an
unsolicited commitment to pay $50,000 to IIT Bombay that year. I felt that it would be seen as
a good faith gesture; I very quickly discovered it was any thing but.
The director told me IITs were government institutes and were not allowed to accept private
donations. It took two to three years to overcome that hurdle. Almost enough to discourage
anybody! My real opportunity to get involved with IITs came when I met Prof D. B. Pathak during
his US visit in fall of 1998. He mentioned a project that he was championing to build a
multi-disciplinary school of Information Technology at IIT Bombay. He mentioned that they had
applied to the government for funding and expected to get it approved in about three years;
they hoped the school would be up in about five years.
I proposed that we try to raise private funding and volunteered to pay for half of it. I
offered to lead a campaign to raise the other half from others, using my half as a matching
grant. All this before I even knew the actual cost of the building, which turned out be about
$4 million. Matching funds were quickly raised. I only imposed three conditions: First, no
government fund should to be needed; the building was to be world class, something that we all
could be proud of; and thirdly, all money was to be accounted for in a very open and
transparent fashion. This enabled the school project to move forward at a very rapid pace and a
world class building was up and running in less than three years. I made no other demands and
was not very happy when it was announced that the building was to be named after me. I proposed
that it be named after some past professors of IIT but was overruled.
It was this backdrop that caused an extreme amount of consternation when the Bharat Sikhsha
Kosh was announced. Its timing was ominous as it happened right after the successful
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the IIT system. It was pronounced that all charitable
contributions to IITs were to be made to this fund. No IIT was to accept any direct
contributions. No donor was to specify how his funds were to be used. Just hand over your money
to the nameless/faceless babu in charge of the fund.
I suppose one has to welcome the backtracking that has taken place with respect to Bharat
Sikhsha Kosh lately, but it leaves one wondering whether it is a real change of heart or just a
tactical retreat. I am hoping that it has not done irreparable damage to the movement that was
just beginning to build a head of steam.
(The writer is founder-president of TiE, a venture capital fund.)
Source:
July 19, 2003 - http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_314011,00300006.htm
By Kanwal Rekhi